Whether or not you’re ready for it, the countdown to Christmas has begun. With just 16 weeks until the big day, supermarkets across the nation are preparing to reveal their seasonal stock in a bid to bring in the Christmas shopping crowd. M&S paves the way by unveiling more than 300 new festive products today in store, from indulgent sharing tins and bumper Advent calendars to playful biscuits, bold crisps and the return of its viral cookies.
From today (2 September), M&S Foodhalls will begin welcoming this year’s festive range, with 324 new products and nearly 400 returning favourites, giving shoppers plenty of reasons to start filling their Christmas cupboards early. We’re spotting plenty of food trends from this year among those ranges, from pistachio and s’mores to chocolate malt balls and even a Custard Cream spread.
To our delight, the much-anticipated Gingerbread and White Chocolate Cookies are back – naturally, we had to nip out at lunch to pick up a few. This viral five-pack returns for a third year running, featuring warmly spiced cookies packed with creamy white chocolate and salted caramel fudge pieces. They’re available from in-store bakeries right now for £3.25* – although, based on previous years, they may not hang around for long.
Here are some of the new M&S Christmas food launches to look out for…
New M&S Christmas sharing tins
Sharing snacks have boomed this year, and no festive M&S Foodhall trip is complete without a tin that looks good on the coffee table.
New Pistachio Muddles (£10) combine caramel centres, roasted pistachios, Swiss milk chocolate and pistachio nibs, while the new Malt Balls Selection (£8) is packed with crunchy malt balls coated in milk, dark, white and blond chocolate. Following the successful launches of the Pick ‘n’ Marks Belgian Milk Chocolate and Blonde Chocolate Malt Balls earlier this year, we expect this festive version to be a hit.
For something made for serious grazing, The Original Gimme S’more Munch (£10) offers a treasure trove of cookie fudge clusters, marshmallows, chocolate digestive pieces, dark chocolate pretzels, white chocolate popcorn and caramel buttons. Ideal for hunkering down with on film night.
Fan-favourite The Original Peanut Butter & Jelly Munch is also returning for £10, alongside the Big Mix Tin (£12), a nostalgic 90s-inspired selection of individually wrapped chocolate toffees, caramels and creams.
The new savoury snacks to add to your basket
M&S is giving Christmas snacking a creative twist this year, with sweet-and-savoury combinations designed for party bowls, picky bits and late-night trips to the kitchen.
New Belgian Milk Chocolate Coated Crispy Chilli Peanuts (£3) offer a spicy crunch beneath smooth milk chocolate – maximising on this year’s ‘swicy’ trend. For something more traditionally savoury, the new British Hand Cooked Aberdeen Angus Beef & Mustard Crisps (£1.80) marry together rich beef flavour, a mustardy kick and plenty of crunch.
For those seeking a touch of the high life, there’s also a more luxurious option in the form of the new Collection 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil Crisps with Lobster (£3.90), made with thinly cut potatoes and a delicate lobster flavour.
Advent calendars are going large
For many of us, the countdown to Christmas starts with the joy of uncovering a tiny chocolate behind a cardboard door. This year, M&S is bringing out two new calendars.
The Big Daddy packets of peanut and pistachio bites have been highly in demand this year, so we’re excited to see them re-introduced within a bumper-sized Advent Calendar (£12) . This contains 12 peanut bites, 12 pistachio bites and a whole Little Big Daddy peanut bar behind door 25.
The new Choc Mini Marks Advent Calendar (£12) also offers plenty of surprises, featuring individually wrapped mini bars in blond pistachio, milk chocolate pretzel, milk chocolate caramel shortbread and milk chocolate orange jelly flavours, finishing with a milk chocolate pretzel bar on Christmas Day.
New chocolate gifts and festive treats
M&S has also unveiled plenty of chocolate treats for stocking fillers, Secret Santa gifts and the sort of presents that mysteriously disappear before Christmas Day.
New Chocolate Rodney the Reindeer Noses (£3.50) are creamy milk chocolate balls with red candy shells, while the Pistachio Star (£3) is filled with silky pistachio crème.
For grown-up festive snacking, the 85% Dark Chocolate Orangettes (£5) pair candied orange peel with rich dark chocolate. Playful Penguins (£5), meanwhile, are beautifully hand-decorated milk chocolate penguins filled with blond chocolate ganache.
Biscuit tins made for cosy cuppas
The biscuit cupboard is getting a festive refresh, too, with plenty of giftable goodies. New Chocolate Chunk Cookie Lenticular Tin (£5) contains chocolate chip cookies half-coated in chocolate, packed inside a playful elf tin that changes design as you move past it.
There’s also a new Spiced Gingerbread Biscuits selection (£6): This enchanting lorry-shaped tin is filled with mini gingerbread people which are sure to go down a treat with the kids. Another keepsake tin, the All Butter Plain & Chocolate Chip Shortbread Magical Projector (£10) rotates to reveal a moving winter wonderland, while lights project a starry constellation. Inside, you’ll find shortbread made in the Highlands.
New jars for festive feasting
M&S is expanding its line-up of spreads, toppings and table-ready extras with two new jars and a festive topping – all launching on 9 September.
The new Custard Cream Spread (£2.50) transforms the nostalgic biscuit flavour into a sweet, crunchy spread for toast, pancakes, warm croissants or straight-from-the-jar sampling.
Meanwhile, the Collection Sticky Figgy Mustard (£5) takes a sharper route, combining sticky figs, warming spice and a mustard kick. It’s made for ham, pies, turkey sandwiches and dunking pigs in blankets.
There’s also Everything Sugar N Spice (£2), a festive sprinkle designed for porridge, pancakes, hot chocolate, crumbles and more. A sweet twist on ‘Everything bagel’ seasoning, we can’t wait to try this one!
Dazzling Christmas desserts
The dessert line-up is bringing plenty of drama, from rich chocolate to pistachio, gooey cookie pies and caramel.
The new Pistachio and Single Origin Chocolate Bombe (£12) features all-butter sponge, pistachio cream, single-origin chocolate, a rich chocolate sauce and crunchy pistachios.
Malt & Caramel Cookie Pie (£3.50) combines cookie cup pastry with blondie, malt and chocolate chips, topped with a malt whip lid and caramel pieces.
Returning favourites include the aforementioned Gingerbread and White Chocolate Cookies, while the Rodney the Reindeer Pies (£3.50) feature chocolate cookie-style pastry, white and milk chocolate pieces and a rich Belgian chocolate brownie filling.
Colin, Connie and Percy are back
Finally, it wouldn’t truly be Christmas without M&S’ much-loved characters.
Colin and Connie the Caterpillars Christmas Time (£2) returns as a joint festive sweet bag, while Percy Pig Merry Percymas (£2) celebrates 10 years of Christmas Percy Pig.
New Percy Pig Festive Fun (£2) joins the line-up with foamy, sugar-coated piglets, gingerbread men, stars and Christmas trees, all made with real fruit juice.
With so many tempting new products landing in store today, whether you’re here for the cookies, the chocolate or a tin you’ll “save for Christmas”, M&S has officially made starting the festive food shop impossible to resist.
Want to make your own festive treats at home? We’ve got plenty of inspiration to tide you over until the big day…
Christmas baking recipes
Edible gift recipes
Christmas sweet recipes
Christmas market recipes
Mince pie recipes
Also check out our round-up of the best Advent calendars for 2026
*Please note that prices may vary in selected stores.